Empire Interactive today announced that it will bring “the furious excitement” of the classic Speedball II: Brutal Deluxe to Xbox LIVE Arcade in August, which is great news for those of you who, like us, hate going outside. Even in the height of summer.

SPOnG should be getting a look-see with Speedball II: Brutal Deluxe in the coming days and we can only hope that it lives up to its promise. It’s a long time gone since we basically spunked away what could have been a productive university career by staying up all night playing Kick Off 2 and Speedball II, so lets hope that this return to past gaming glory is not relying too heavily on the nostalgia/rose-tinted specs value.

For those too young to remember, the Bitmap Brothers classic, Speedball, was first released for the Amiga in 1990 and was followed by its sequel, Speedball II: Brutal Deluxe - which sold over 2 million units. Almost unheard of at the time.

You can see the Bitmaps pictured here in their late 1980s heyday, back when it was de rigueur for games developers to provide PR shots that made them look like early period U2. Oh how we miss those days.

So the XBLA version of Speedball II: Brutal Deluxe promises the addition of an all-new High Definition version, more teams and downloadable content.

“We are pleased to be bringing this all time classic to Xbox LIVE Arcade,” commented Ian Higgins, CEO Empire Interactive. “With its brutal and addictive gameplay, and the ability to play multiplayer over Xbox LIVE, we are sure this will be the definitive version of Speedball”

Unfortunately, SPOnG attempted to source a picture of Empire’s CEO Ian Higgins striking a pose as an early 1980s popstar, but we were unsuccessful on this occasion.

If you have one, send it to feedback@spong.com.